The Corn Feed

The terms “quality,” “quality control” and “quality assurance” have all been defined in very narrow and certainly many different ways by the feed industry. The food industry has defined these terms to prevent defective and poor products and services as part of their manufacturing and delivering process. The feed industry also has this philosophy.

In my opinion whether you are talking about making a 16.00% Dairy Mix, producing ice cream or monitoring your total mixed ration (TMR), the words of Shewhart, as written in the Economic Control of Quality of Manufactured Product (1931) and published under the guidelines of the American Society for Quality Control, are important to remember:

Measured quality of manufactured product(s) is always subject to a certain amount of variation as a result of chance. Some stable “systems of chance causes” is inherent in any particular scheme of production and inspection. Variation within this stable pattern is inevitable. The reason(s) for variation outside this stable pattern must be discovered and corrected.

So, as we progress into a more targeted discussion about quality, let’s focus on the dairyman’s TMR. The nutritional advantages of using TMR-based feeding regimes have been written about since the late 1980’s. We know and understand about some of the advantages of TMR’s over separate feeding of forages and concentrates, and they include but certainly not limited to:

• More accurate proportions of forages and concentrates are delivered to the cows
• Ensuring a reduced risk of digestive upsets
• Assuring improved feed efficiency
• Improved response from certain industrial co-products (Hominy, DDGS, Gluten Feed)
• Better utilization of labor

I also realize that it is important to know the terminology around TMR, and those terms are:

• Mixed Partial Ration (MPR) — MPR is often used in combination with TMR but top dressing of grain in the bunk or the use of computerized feeding systems also done. Often times free choice dry hay is used as well.
• Mixed Total Ration (MTR) — A MTR is often used instead of the term TMR so they are the same.
• Partially Mixed Ration (PMTR) — The PMTR is something that needs to be fixed, as the feed is not totally mixed and will be discussed in part within this discussion.
• Totally Mixed Total Ration (TMTR) — The TMTR is the desired outcome of your mix.

In this discussion let us focus on the day-to-day aspect of TMR feeding.

It is my opinion that the success of any TMR and TMTR feeding regime absolutely requires the Herdsman, the person actually doing the feeding, and the Farm Manager or owner pay very close attention to the following areas

• Changes in Dry Matter within the feed. Every dairy should have a moisture tester for their TMR. The TMR should be tested 2 times per week, minimum.

• Add feeding ingredients in the proper order. Add the concentrates, like cereals and soya, first followed by the forages if you are using an auger mixer. Be sure and grind or chop dry forages and add them last, again with an auger system. If you are using a vertical mixer with center augers, add the dry chopped forages first followed by grains, concentrates and lastly the ensiled forages.

• Do not over mix. Mixing time will vary with the type of mixer (auger or vertical), amount of feed in the mixer, size of the power (tractor or truck), and even the condition (old or new) of the mixer. It is recommended that the mixer should run 5 minutes from the time the last ingredient is added. In some vertical mixers the time may be shortened to 3 minutes. Over mixing creates a reduction in particle size and causes you to lose the physical effect of the fiber peNDF. This is why I recommend routinely checking particle size every 3 weeks, unless you see rumen/digestive upsets, with a particle size monitor, such as the Penn State Box. Follow their guidelines but remember that more than 10% on the top screen allows cows to sort feed ingredients.

• Calibrate mixer scales. Check mixer weights at ⅓, ⅔ and full capacity. An easy and effective way to check this is to place a known amount of weight (such as 100 pounds) on each corner of the mixer at the 3 mentioned weight capacities and get your readings.

It is a must that you read in its entirety the manual for your mixer that you use for preparing your TMR.

To make sure your TMR mixer is functioning adequately and, more importantly consistently, sample several different locations within the bunk on a routine basis, say every month or so. Do this at the start of feed discharge, at 25%, 50%, 75% intervals across the feed bunk, and at the end of feed discharge. I have seen cases of digestive upsets in cows where they consume feed at the beginning of feed discharge, due to corn not being totally mixed and or not added at the correct time. Cattle are very dominate eaters and will often consume feed from the same place each day, each feeding.

Encouraging your customers to incorporating these suggestions into their Standard Operating Procedures will help them maximizing feed efficiency as well as the economics of milk production and cow well-being.

Jerry Weigel is the manager of nutrition and technical services for BASF Plant Science. He can be reached at gerald.weigel@basf.com.